A former drug dealer from Tilehurst who turned his life around after leaving prison has won a national award.

Rory Marsh spent seven of the last 10 years in jail, but learned a trade while inside and is now inspiring others to turn their backs on crime.

The 30-year-old works as a barber and helps support his 10-year-old daughter and unborn child.

Rory, who asked for his real surname not to be used, picked up a trophy for significant achievement at the Employment Related Services Association employability awards in front of employment minister Esther McVey.

He had been nominated by A4e, the public services provider which helped him resettle and find work after leaving prison just before Christmas.

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Tracy Ellison, A4e’s executive director for welfare, said: “It was fantastic to see such a humble individual, who has clearly had a tough time of it, to be recognised in this way.

“Rory’s story is amazing and is a testament to the belief he has in himself and the belief the local team had in him.”

After receiving his award at the ceremony in London, Rory said: “I am in total shock. When you leave prison you think everyone will be down on you and sometimes it’s hard to see that you are making progress. This has made me even more hungry to help other offenders.”

Rory was brought up on an estate in Tilehurst by his single mother, who died of cancer when he was just eight years old.

He lived with his older brother and started hanging around with street gangs who got him into smoking cannabis and then heroin.

Rory was homeless at 15 and started dealing drugs to fund his own habit, although he still managed to pass 11 GCSEs at school. He was jailed after being caught with a large amount of Class A drugs and when he was released with no home, no job and no support he re-offended within months and was imprisoned for seven years.

Rory learned barbering skills inside and signed up for an A4e Work Programme when he was released after serving half his sentence.

He said: “This time when I got out, I knew I had support. It was stillreally daunting because you get institutionalised inside.

“I felt like everybody could tell I had just got out of jail and I couldn’t do the basic things that a 29-year-old man should know how to do.”

With support from his A4e advisers, Rory then started applying for work at salons around Reading, but received knock back after knock back until he found a barbers willing to give him a chance and now he is working four days a week.

He initially worked at Ansar barbers in Northumberland Avenue but is now working in Basingstoke

Rory said: “This time, I feel like I will have failed everybody who has tried to help me and, more importantly, my daughter, if I go back to my old ways. I want to help other people get their lives back like I have.”

Rory has told his story in a short film now being shown in prisons to teach offenders about the Work Programme.

A4e adviser Emma Kennedy said: “We normally expect it to take at least a year, usually more, for a prison leaver to find work.

“But Rory came out with such a strong mental attitude. He worked his socks off to get a job and is doing well in it. He has grasped the second chance he has been given with both hands.”